Closed Benfica 0-1 Chelsea

[kingofchelseadom 41]

Ah yes, love it when CFC wins these type of contests. 1-0 scrappy encounter away. Yummy. Tastes good.

[The Rising Sun 711]

feel so happy for Kalou !!!

a nice win for the blues ... Torres getting sharper and sharper by the day.

good play from Luiz and some really crucial saves from Cech even though they might be regarded as regular ones!

Hope we don't squander this precious away goal at SB

edit : almost forgot was also happy to see PF play ... and i think he did really well !

Haha.... The Funny and greatly Ironic part about this is that he will probably be on the bench for the next game.

He has to start from square one every game and try and build momentum .... and he probably knows he is sitting on the bench against Aston Villa.

Wierd Conundrum our club is under ATM.

[The Rising Sun 711]

double post.

[The Rising Sun 711]

Torres has had 3 good games in a row now, but he had a similar run early in the season and then promptly went on a 20 match streak of utter wank. For me, the jury's still out on him.

That was when AVB was the manager and the entire team looked like they wanted to retire..... This time around there is more dynamism,optimism and the players are more of a team.....

Most importantly, you gotta respect Di matteo for the way he has managed to give every player enough playing time, rather than AVB who dished out the same players every week.... NOw every players knows he will get his chance and works for it....

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

Pretty drab match, but I'm satisfied with our win and the clean sheet and how organized we were.

Anyway, what happened to Jeff?

[Jase 43,479]

Just 2 votes for Ferreira?!

[Strike 7,478]

weird isn't it....avb got a lot of stick for a rotating policy but now rdm is being hailed.....maybe because rdm has the fixture congestion reason up his sleeve

also drogba and torres seem to be alternating every other game....so are sturridge and kalou, cahill-luiz, essien-mikel, meireles-lampard....

is it a case of over-rotation? or keeping everybody fresh

[Jase 43,479]

weird isn't it....avb got a lot of stick for a rotating policy but now rdm is being hailed.....maybe because rdm has the fixture congestion reason up his sleeve

also drogba and torres seem to be alternating every other game....so are sturridge and kalou, cahill-luiz, essien-mikel, meireles-lampard....

is it a case of over-rotation? or keeping everybody fresh

One reason for that is because RDM's team selection worked whereas AVB's didn't but the main difference IMO is the approach that AVB and RDM took. The former was too gung-ho, attack minded and seem to keen to play attacking football without taking the opposition's strength into mind that it left the team exposed as seen against Napoli. On the other hand, RDM was more pramagtic in his approach and had a proper game plan to grind out results. Not entertaining but at least we looked more solid and less vulnerable under RDM.

[Strike 7,478]

One reason for that is because RDM's team selection worked whereas AVB's didn't but the main difference IMO is the approach that AVB and RDM took. The former was too gung-ho, attack minded and seem to keen to play attacking football that it left the team exposed as seen against Napoli. On the other hand, RDM was more pramagtic in his approach and had a proper game plan to grind out results.

yep And i hear eddie newton has been a big help tactically

[Au blues 29]

One reason for that is because RDM's team selection worked whereas AVB's didn't but the main difference IMO is the approach that AVB and RDM took. The former was too gung-ho, attack minded and seem to keen to play attacking football that it left the team exposed as seen against Napoli. On the other hand, RDM was more pramagtic in his approach and had a proper game plan to grind out results.

Fair point but I think that RDM has actually balanced his sides v the teams he has played against! Used the cattle at his disposal relevant to the game.I think tbh that AVB At times was on the FIFA play station versus what's on the line today!

[Jase 43,479]

yep And i hear eddie newton has been a big help tactically

Really? Well, it's always good to have an assistant who can help out with that.

Fair point but I think that RDM has actually balanced his sides v the teams he has played against! Used the cattle at his disposal relevant to the game.I think tbh that AVB At times was on the FIFA play station versus what's on the line today!

Yeah. RDM basically played more to the strength of the players we've got than AVB. He tried to implement his style of play but ultimately failed because our players are not suited to it.

[sololamaglia 27]

Hi blues! I couldn't watch the game so I just came to congrats for the victory! It's always tough to win at Da Luz....

[capriccioso 2,545]

Hi solo

You shouldn't watch the match it wasn't that great.. we defended really well.

[Dj Borgs 262]

C'mon chelseaaaaaaaaa!

win also for naples fans!

[Peace. 4,352]

Nevermind Kalou, apparently getting the result needed also turns embarrassing games into displays of tactical intelligence and defensive solidity.

This game is easily one of the 5 worst I've seen this season and despite the inspiring performance by David Luiz we could have easily been 2 down in the second half.

This. I thought we were not good at all. When defending we were okay, but whenever we had the ball our players seemed embarrassed with the ball between their feet. Drogba was right to be happy, we were lucky to be against this team, I found Benfica horrendous (I never expected to encounter a team that bad in a CL quarter-final).

That being said, I am obviously delighted about the result, and happy we maximized our chance to get to the next round.